Brochures may be one of the last true hard-copy promotional materials left, and they can make a striking impact with their long-term staying power. Whereas emails, blasts and social networking updates may be quickly and easily deleted or scrolled past, a brochure keeps your information in front of someone for much longer. Save time and effort making brochures with Microsoft Publisher, which comes stocked with templates that have already completed the hard part – setup – for you. You won’t have to struggle with leaving room for folds or margins or trying to prep a double-sided layout.

Step 1

Start Publisher and click the “Brochures” button, the first option under the "Most Popular Section" of the Available Templates screen.

Step 2

Scroll through the templates and choose one. While the brochure templates are fairly generic, you’ll be able to customize them in later steps.

Step 3

Press the “Page Down” key on the keyboard to review the two pages of the brochure. All of Publisher’s brochure templates are already double-sided, with one page representing each side.

Step 4

Scroll up to the first page, where the right side panel represents the brochure cover. Click into the placeholder brochure title and type the text you desire.

Step 5

Right-click the placeholder picture the template uses on the cover of the brochure. Choose “Change Picture” from the menu, then click “Change Picture” again from the fly-out. Browse to a stored image on your computer and double-click it.

Step 6

Repeat the process to change all of the headers and pictures throughout the brochure. The “Change Picture” process is an optimal way to add a digital logo to the brochure, but you can also add it without swapping a picture by clicking the Insert tab, then clicking the “Picture” button below. Browse to and double-click the logo. Add additional pictures to the brochure in this way.

Step 7

Highlight the placeholder text below the headlines in the brochure. It may appear in Greek or Latin filler writing, depending on your template. Type your desired text.

Step 8

Scroll back to the first page and zoom into the middle pane if it is hard to see. Click into, highlight and type over the placeholder contact information text boxes.

Step 9

Click the Page Design tab and scroll through the Schemes section of the ribbon. There are more Schemes than are shown, so use the scroll bar to see them all. Click any of these to instantly change the default colors on the template. Double-clicking a scheme sets the new color, while hovering over the scheme simply shows you a preview.

Step 10

Click the File tab and select “Save As.” Choose where to save the brochure, enter its name in the “File name” field and click the “Save” button.

Tip

If your printer isn’t set up for duplex, or double-sided, printing, you can print directly from Publisher, but one page at a time. You’ll need to send through the brochure’s first page, then flip the paper -- paying attention to your printer’s notes on which direction to place the paper – and print the second side.

References

Resources

About the Author

Fionia LeChat is a technical writer whose major skill sets include the MS Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Publisher), Photoshop, Paint, desktop publishing, design and graphics. LeChat has a Master of Science in technical writing, a Master of Arts in public relations and communications and a Bachelor of Arts in writing/English.